Today, audio and video data streaming from remote locations are quite common practices. Cable TV companies have commercialized various forms of on-demand video or audio streaming. Also, on-demand video broadcasting systems usually offer to save a desired program for later use by the client. However, directly storing some of such material by the client and on the client's device may be illegal due to specific copyright laws. Without a proper security alarming system, the streamed data can be easily recorded by a video recorder. In case of any security breach by for example a cyber intruder, the risk can be the digital storage of this stream of data as it arrives in the destination using a form of digital video recorder without consent or knowledge of the user.
Systems have been proposed by which a media file or broadcast can be transferred to another device operating within the same network. The transfer in form of downloads and uploads can be done remotely. But the fate of a real-time video stream will remain unclear. Encryption and scrambling methods have been used to restrict their further usage. But the sender will never be informed of fate of the transmitted signals and will never have control over them.
Webcams have become very popular and are now regularly used to share video across instant message clients. Webcam recording software is also available that allows recording of the video stream, both on the sender and receiver side. Numerous methods of security precautions have been reported to ensure the security and privacy of the media en route to the destination. But in case of a direct video streaming session, there is currently no way for a user to know if the person on the other side of the connection is recording the stream, and no way to prevent this recording. This leads to a potential violation of privacy. This invention if applied to the popular messaging clients can go a long way to help prevent violations, keeping in mind that total protection is not possible, because for instance, someone could point a regular video camera at their computer screen to record images.